BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Given New $1,046.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, March 29th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,126.92.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $963.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $975.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $992.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BLK. United Bank lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. Atom Investors LP lifted its position in BlackRock by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 302 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in BlackRock by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 4,990 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 9.2% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,228 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,121,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.